Celebrating neurodiversity in our community.
Lucy & Yak are so very lucky to have such a diverse community with so many wonderful neurodiverse folk – who say they love the brand for our comfy fits, expressive clothes and inclusive culture. You’re free to be yourself in the Yak community!
Following on from our popular 2021 campaign and ongoing work with neurodivergent creators, we wanted to keep the conversation going with a collection that resonated with our community, and a platform that inspired people to share their own stories over Neurodiversity Celebration Week and beyond.
We call it: Everybody & Everymind, a celebration of neurodivergent experiences within our community – curated, created and inspired by our neurodivergent customers, creators and staff.
The Collection
We invited the community to shape the collection with feedback on everything from the fabrics and shapes to the colours and fits of existing Yaks – to make sure the collection contained the most sensory-friendly clothes possible.
Now we had the perfect Yaks, our very own resident artist and upcycler Sarah Caulfield (who herself is neurodivergent), worked her magic, creating around 20 illustrations that each touched on a different neurodivergent experience such as overstimulation, masking and burnout.
Making sure we kept the collection a secret, Sarah compiled feedback from a few of her followers who were also in the Yak community, and was able to choose which designs resonated most with our neurodivergent audience:
Free your mind
A much-loved design used in our previous campaign championing Neurodiversity Celebration Week 2021, with a refreshed rainbow palette.
Spaced out
Inspired by the ADHD experience of ‘zoning out’. A common experience of ADHD is being pulled out of the task-at-hand as your brain needs to diverge elsewhere.
Temporarily out of service
Bringing to life the feeling of autistic burnout – a state of mental, physical and emotional exhaustion.
Oversharing
The neurodivergent mind communicates differently. It’s often known to interrupt, go quiet, monologue/info dump, over-explain, and not read some contexts. It likes to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, which can be said to anyone in any situation.
A different kind of magic
‘Different not less’. Being neurodivergent simply means thinking differently to the dominant neurotype, and despite the stigma, this difference is something to celebrate!
“We know we can’t speak to or for everyone and every experience, but we hope customers will be able to resonate with the collection, feel seen and be uplifted by it.” Sarah Caulfield
Half of the profits from the collection will be donated to ADHD Foundation, the neurodiversity charity, the UK’s leading neurodiversity charity.
The Shoot
Our collection was inspired and informed by the wonderful neurodivergent members of the Yak community, so it was only right that they were the stars of the shoot, which featured staff, customers and friends of the brand – each with their own unique neurodivergent experience.
In the buildup to the shoot, we worked closely with our neurodivergent staff to make sure we created an environment in which everyone could have the best day possible. This included:
- No music to keep the space peaceful.
- Supplying Loop earbuds for anyone to use if needed.
- Reduced lighting throughout the space, while checking with all models ahead of time if flash lighting was OK.
- Setting up quiet areas for people to sit in.
- Optional makeup that was influenced by the style they chose.
- Lots of fiddle toys available for everyone!
The Yak Shopping Experience
Everybody & everymind is welcome at Lucy & Yak, so it’s up to us to make sure everyone can feel comfortable shopping with us.
We take great pride in the fact that we’ve already had lots of positive feedback around what it’s like to shop at Lucy & Yak as a neurodivergent person – whether that’s thanks to our kind shop teams or avoiding bright lighting. But we know we can go one step further!
We’re excited to be introducing sensory friendly shopping sessions across our network of shops. On the 17th of every month, each space will be adjusted to create a welcoming shopping atmosphere for neurodivergent customers, from sensory friendly lighting to more considered music choices and more.
Neurodiversity Panel & Workshops
To celebrate the launch of our collection, we’re getting out and about to celebrate neurodiversity with all you lovely people face to face!
We’re hosting our own Neurodiversity Panel discussion in our Brighton shop on March 16th, where the lovely Hannah, Max and Sandra will be sharing their own neurodivergent experiences and stories, while across our shop network on Friday 17th we’ll be hosting fidget toy and sensory cushion workshops. Of course – everybody and everymind is invited!
Eventbrite links:
Brighton (Panel Talk) - 16th March:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/583971824447
Bristol (Workshops) - 17th March:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/583977491397
Nottingham (Workshops) - 17th March: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/583999045867